Old Courthouse Gets Aid

DIGEST

The group trying to save the 1916 Palm Beach County courthouse - the oldest courthouse between Key West and Kissimmee - got its first big block of money this week.

The $43,822 is a matching grant from the state Bureau of Historic Preservation. That means the local group, called Save the Old Courthouse, has already raised that amount in donations.

The old courthouse is now within the current courthouse on Dixie Highway. Three additions surround the old courthouse, so the group plans to tear down the additions to get to the 1916 building.

Michael Bornstein, County Commissioner Warren Newell's aide and a founder of Save the Old Courthouse, hopes renovation will start within a few months after the new courthouse opens across the street in November. The renovation will take two to three years and cost between $4.5 million and $6 million.